


Psychics and the Cosmos

by ChariChiminie



Category: Adam (2009), Charlie Countryman (2013), Hannibal (TV), Hannibal Extended Universe - Fandom
Genre: Adam is a TA, Adorable Adam Raki, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - psychics, Darko and the Science Trio are also young, Darko is best friend goals, Enjoy!, Fluff and Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Jealous Nigel (Charlie Countryman), Nigel is his student so..., Other Hannibal (TV) Cameos, Protective Nigel (Charlie Countryman), Science trio run a paranormal investigation club, Slow Burn, Young Nigel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:28:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28889130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChariChiminie/pseuds/ChariChiminie
Summary: Adam Raki is a psychic that learnt to live his life suppressing the powers that thrum under his skin and Nigel Varescu is the psychic leader of one of the city's most dangerous gangs. Two completely opposite people, only joined by the similar powers they share, end up finding each other and shockingly most of the shenanigans that ensure aren't as bad as you think they would be.(A story inspired by Mob Psycho 100. I'm so sorry, I suck at summaries. :'D)
Relationships: Nigel (Charlie Countryman)/Adam Raki
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Psychics and the Cosmos

**Author's Note:**

> My first work in this fandom! I haven't even been in the Hannibal fandom for long, I've truly fallen down a rabbit hole if my first work is Space Dogs but dear god Nigel and Adam are so freaking cute and I will go down with this ship! 
> 
> I had been rewatching Mob Psycho 100 and thought that Mob and Adam were quite similar and this fic was born! I had originally meant for this to be a one shot but goddamn I ended up writing too much and now its gonna have chapters, hopefully I can keep it to around 3 chapters! Any who, enjoyyy!! <3

The world we live in has been around for billions and billions of years, one would think that this would have been enough time to have found explanations for all the things that happened to exist and yet we have barely begun to scratch the surface. There are mysteries that exist in this world that we will probably never have explanations for, they are otherworldly things that will no doubt strike cold fear into the hearts of the simple man. Among these supernatural things are a breed of humanity known as Psychics, people with powers beyond our comprehension, great and small, and most are brave souls that will stand against unearthly dangers and rid the world of the impurities that plague it. But there are some that only exist to watch the world burn beneath their fingertips, drinking in the power they can gain from it. 

That was the story Adam Raki’s father told him one cloudy day, while they sat in the hospital with all its strange sounds and unpleasant smells. 

“You are so powerful, Adam, more powerful than I could even begin to fathom and that’s why we must always be careful.” he said. “You must promise me, Son. Never use your psychic powers against other people, never use them for bad because you will only end up hurting those that you love.” 

Adam had promised that day, burying the full force of his power deep within his heart and determining to never let them come out no matter what. 

Now as a young man, Adam Raki sat grading the papers that his supervisor did not feel like grading, which was a good three-quarters of the full load, but Adam didn’t complain, he didn’t mind grading papers. The grading had a marking scheme, it was a structure that he could just follow to the letter and write down the feedback to help his students improve, it made everyone happy and the students too were doing quite okay. So, yes, Adam didn’t mind grading papers, he always felt a bit of pride seeing someone following his advice and doing better in the next test. 

He was marking the papers in the club room, he liked the club room much better than the staff rooms, too many people doing too many things and talking too loudly. The club room was quieter, only usually filled with little sounds that Adam had gotten used to like the tap-tap of Beverly’s fingers against her laptop keyboard, little pew-pews from Brian’s Nintendo Switch or the gentle scratch of Jimmy’s pencil against his notebook. 

The trio weren’t present at the moment, they had announced as soon as Adam came into the club room that they had gotten a request (for a price) to investigate some strange happenings in one of the old buildings on campus. They hadn’t asked Adam to accompany them, knowing today was the day Adam had set apart time to go through papers. They hadn’t been too concerned about the strange happenings being something they couldn’t handle either, but they knew that Adam was only a text message away (he had made sure to tell them he didn’t like phone calls). 

Adam smiled to himself drawing a little red tick mark next to a correct answer. A year ago, when he first moved to California, a part time job as a teaching assistant while he worked on his PhD wasn’t a job he thought he would be able to handle. Teaching meant having to interact with people, socializing, racking his brain trying to understand the social cues of people younger than him and unpredictable routines. And it was extremely difficult at first, it was difficult not to go into full blown meltdowns as he tried to find his rhythm and keep the energy, he bottles inside himself from bursting forth like a bomb. But he had managed to find it, his rhythm and once he had done that, he found that somehow things came easier to him, even deviations in his daily routine, something that would definitely have sent him over the edge. 

A part of that had been having the trio ambush him, afterschool around a month after he had started and beg him on their knees to be the teacher in charge of their Paranormal Investigation Club. Of course, he hadn’t been happy at all that they had ambushed him, he had never been one for surprises and the Student Council President had scoffed at the trio, telling Adam that they only used that club room to slack off while pretending to investigate ‘ghosts’. But they never gave up, especially when they accidentally discovered that Adam was an Esper. 

“Mr. Adam, maybe we should have just told you the truth instead of just trying to convince you. We’re really sorry about that, we should have known you don’t like surprises or liars. The Prof told us about your Asperger’s, not that it matters! It doesn't... um...” Beverly said, a few days later, twiddling with her thumbs, a gesture Adam managed to identify as one of guilt. “What the Student Council President said is true, what we do most of the time is just slack off and eat snacks in the club room. But we are genuinely interested in learning about the paranormal and you’re a psychic, maybe you could teach us!” 

“You could help us communicate with aliens! They’re among us, I just know it, all we need to do is look hard enough!” Jimmy said, excitedly. 

Brian nodded, vigorously. “You’re a psychic, so you probably have telepathy and telepathy can help you communicate with aliens!” 

Adam frowned, unable to understand why the boys was so enamored with aliens. “There aren’t any aliens on earth, Brian. Most evidence presented on the existence of life forms in outer space is mostly just speculation research programs have come up with by observing certain species that grow on earth within conditions similar to that of other planets. As for the existence of truly sentient life forms, none of that has been discovered as of yet, so I think it’s futile to believe in their existence without hard evidence.”

“That’s true but imagine!” 

“I can, but what’s the purpose?” 

“It’s fun!” 

“Oh. Okay.” Adam said, rather lamely because he couldn’t think of anything else to say. “But I doubt I will be able to help you, I maybe an Esper but that’s doesn’t mean I’m knowledgeable on all things paranormal, all I know for sure is that spirits do exist.” 

“That’s alright, maybe we could research on it together! We could have days where we could sit with you and actually do some work for club instead of just lazing around most of the time!” Jimmy suggested, his tone rather desperate. “If we don’t get a teacher or a teaching assistant to be in charge of our club then we lose our club room. We love that place and our weird little club, we don’t want to lose it, Mr. Adam. You’re our only hope.” 

Adam didn’t like to see them so desperate and sad, they weren’t bad kids, compared to the ones that liked to sit in the back of his tutorials and whisper (it had taken him a long while to train himself to ignore them). So, he agreed to be their teacher in charge, but he never expected them to really make good on the suggestions they had given him and actually change the little club for the better. Of course, they still liked to laze around but they had set aside days for Adam to give little mini lectures on different subjects, take in requests (for a price) to investigate places people said had paranormal activity and occasionally ask Adam to help exorcise any spirits they might find. 

The mini lectures were listened to with rapt attention, they were on any topic that they thought Adam might know, whether it be how spirits tether themselves to one place or how the Hubble telescope worked (the space themes were always Adam’s favorite). The three fast became Adam’s favorite students and helped him finally find his rhythm. He loved to talk about them with Beth and Harlan when they called to check up on him. 

A ping from his phone alerted him out of his musings. _‘Mr. Adam, we may have fucked up.’_ It was a text message from Brian. 

Adam frowned. _‘Mind your language, Brian. But what do you mean?’_

 _‘We were told the old gym building was haunted, but we didn’t think it was actually haunted!’_

_‘We’re hiding in a closet next to the dressing rooms, Mr. Adam! Save us!’_

Adam’s frown deepened. He had just finished grading all the papers that he needed to, fortunately; he was worried about his students but he’d hate to put off a task he needed to finish. So, he hastily but neatly packed up the papers and the rest of his things into his messenger bag, before leaving the club room, making sure to lock it behind him. 

He managed to find his way to the old gym building, it was very run-down building, clearly abandoned and used by the more rebellious students for nefarious purposes judging by the multitude of cigarette butts and empty alcohol bottles he came across. He also sensed an odd energy from the building, that must be the spirit that Brian had been talking about. The dressing rooms weren’t too hard to find, the design of the building hadn’t been too different to the new building and he could hear whispers coming from the broom closet beside the entrance to the rooms. 

“Beverly, Brian, Jimmy? Are you in there?” he called, flinching in surprise when the door was immediately thrown open and the trio rushed at him in various states of disarray. 

“Mr. Adam! I’m so glad, you’re here, I thought I was going to die!” Jimmy sobbed. 

“Really?” Adam asked, raising his eyebrows in alarm. Were his senses off somehow? The presence he had been sensing didn’t seem too powerful to him. 

“No, Jimmy’s just being dramatic because he’s a coward.” Beverly said, rolling her eyes. “I think he’s a poltergeist judging by the things we were informed he was doing and the stuff we saw. A poltergeist isn’t very powerful.” 

“That doesn’t make it any less scary!” Brian cried. “The thing was flinging around old basketballs, Mr. Adam, like we were playing dodgeball when we went inside the storage room. It’s probably that ancient gym coach who slipped on a banana peel and died while trying to make his class play dodgeball.” 

“A banana peel?” Adam asked, rather surprised, he didn’t know people could die from slipping on banana peels but then again, Brian had mentioned the coach was ancient, which probably meant that he was really old. 

“I know right, it would have been funny, if we weren’t subjected to his temper tantrum.” Beverly pouted.

“He is angry.” Adam said. “I can feel it.” 

Spiritual anger had a very distinct feeling, it was like a patch of heat that settled on the back of his neck and the hotter that feeling was, the more angry and powerful the spirit was. It wasn’t a very pleasant feeling and Adam really wanted it gone, the gym coach spirit wasn’t too far away and he guessed that it was probably in the basketball court. 

“I can do exorcise it, do you want to stay here? I don’t mind going alone.” he told the trio, who shook their heads vigorously. 

“We can’t let you go alone, Mr. Adam! We’re a team, we’ll watch your back!” Beverly said, with a fist pump. 

“That really isn’t necessary, but alright, I guess.” Adam said, with a small smile, he deposited his messenger bag on a relatively clean spot beside the broom closet before walking in the direction of the basketball court. Jimmy and Brian immediately attached themselves to Adam’s back looking around with wide fearful eyes, while Beverly walked beside Adam, even though she too hung quite close to him. 

The spirit was definitely in the court, the air had suddenly dropped a few degrees and the room had definitely gotten darker even though it was the late afternoon. Adam felt the energy in the room spike, he knew that the spirit was about to materialize, and his suspicions were confirmed when Jimmy and Brian let out rather high-pitched screams. A wisp of inky black bloomed out of thin air swirling around to form the shape of an old man with a pot belly and a wearing a track suit a size too small for him. His skin glowed green and had hollows for eyes save for single white pupils in the middle. 

“AHHHH! IT REALLY IS THE OLD GYM COACH!!”

“Damn brats, do you want me to curse you!? I can haunt you till your miserable little lives end!!” the ghost grumbled out, pointing a rude finger at Adam and the trio. 

“You shouldn’t do that, Sir.” Adam said.

“Hah!? Who the hell do you think you are, dumb brat!?” 

“Please, don’t call me a brat, I’m 27 and I’m these kids’ TA. They told me, you were harassing them, they only wanted to investigate the place a little.” 

“Don’t act smart with me, you little shit! This is my gymnasium and I ain’t letting any no good fucktards come here and do as they fucking like! I’ve already had it up to my neck with those Romanian brats! No more!!” 

Romanian brats? Adam wondered who the ghost meant but he filed that thought away for another time because the ghost was gearing up to send in an attack with a loud war cry. He charged them and Adam only had to hold up his hand to channel a bit of his powers, the gym coach exploded into a myriad of colors that swirled about before dissipating away. It was like a dark veil had been lifted from the building, as the evening sun streamed in happily from the windows in the court. 

“I will never get bored of seeing you do that, Mr. Adam!” Beverly cried, vibrating with excitement while Jimmy and Brian whooped in the background. “God, you’re so cool!”

Adam blushed. “Thank you, Beverly.” 

“I think we deserve ramen after that heart attack. I know a new Japanese place that opened up on Pepper Street!” Jimmy said, with a relieved grin. “Do you want to come with us, Mr. Adam?” 

Adam didn’t understand how ramen would be an effective cure for a heart attack, so he gave Jimmy a smile he hoped was apologetic instead. “Thank you, Jimmy but I’ll have to pass, today’s not the day I try a new food.” 

Jimmy nodded in understanding. “Maybe we could go out on that day, again! You have to try ramen one day, Mr. Adam, you’ll love it I’m sure.” 

Adam nodded too, a warm feeling settling in his belly, he really did love this little club. When they exited the building Adam’s nose was just assaulted with the pungent scent of cigarette smoke. In a corner beside the main entrance to the building, a group of boys were gathered, they looked to be playing a game of cards with cigarettes caught between their teeth. Adam wasn’t able to put names to faces, he hadn’t been able to learn the names of everyone in the cohort he taught (he just learnt the names of kids in his tutorials) but he knew they were from the school and they were breaking the rules. So, he decided to put on his best teacher face and go tell them to stop smoking when he felt Brian and Jimmy hook their arms on his and pull him back.

“Mr. Adam, are you insane!?” Brian demanded in a whisper that sounded more like a hiss. 

“That’s not very nice, Brian.” Adam said, his brows furrowing. 

“Right, sorry, I didn’t mean that.” Brian said, face falling guiltily but neither he nor Jimmy let his arms go. “But Mr. Adam you absolutely cannot go over there!”

“Why is that? They’re breaking the rules and I must let them know they’re breaking the rules.” Adam said, his frown deepening. “Plus, smoking is very bad for your health. Smoking one to four cigarettes a day nearly triples your risk of dying from lung cancer. It also increases your risk of heart disease and stroke as we-…” 

“I’m so sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Adam but that’s not what we’re worried about!” Beverly whispered urgently, watching the boys with a nervous gaze. “Don’t you know who they are? The entire school is terrified of them! Even Chilton takes care to not cross them!”

“How can the entire school be terrified of them, they’re just boys, I’m sure they’ll stop if you ask nicely.” Adam said, trying once more to move towards them but Jimmy and Brian just held on tighter this time. 

“Mr. Adam, that’s Nigel Varescu and Darko Vikas! They’re complete thugs! They won’t hesitate to beat up anyone that pisses them off!” Beverly warned. “It doesn’t help that they’re psychics too! And there’s rumor that they’re the ones that lead Venom, that’s a really dangerous gang that does really shifty things and controls this side of the city. They’re horrible people, Mr. Adam and I’m afraid they might try to hurt you!” 

“But they still need to be reminded of the rules, I’m still a teacher, Beverly and it’s my responsi-…” 

Adam was interrupted for the second time that day when a shadow fell over them and the trio turned pale like the gym coach’ ghost had returned to curse them all. He turned, accidentally meeting the intense amber gaze of one of the boys, who had somehow managed to walk right up to them without them noticing. The silver-blonde haired boy was a good few inches taller than he was, with long legs and broad shoulders, he was lithe, holding himself with a poise that a leopard might have while watching his potential prey. The only thing that seemed a little out of character was the baby blue shirt he wore, patterned with cartoon wiener dogs. He had a certain aura about him that exuded strength (even with the cartoon wiener dogs) and Adam felt it, the power that thrummed about under his skin; this must be one of the psychic boys Beverly mentioned. 

He immediately broke his gaze, he had never been good with eye contact and with this boy it was even less so. His eyes landed somewhere along his sharp jawline and Adam ended up noticing he had a tattoo of a woman inked along the side of his neck, another broken rule.

He blew out a plume of white smoke, making Adam scrunch up his nose. “Do we have a fucking problem here?” he asked, with a rather exotic accent that Adam couldn’t quite yet place. 

“Two rules.” Adam blurted out. “You’ve broken two rules.” 

“What?” 

“Students aren’t allowed to have tattoos and they are not allowed to smoke on campus. And you shouldn’t swear, it’s rude.” 

“Oh my god, Mr. Adam! Are those really the rules? Oh my god, ha ha ha! They changed those, didn’t they? I don’t remember those being in the orientation leaflet!” Jimmy cried, his voice an octave higher than it usually is, eyes wide with alarm and face glistening with sweat. 

“I don’t remember any rule chang-…” Adam began, quite miffed and confused that his students were trying to lie to this boy. 

“No, no, I do remember, they did change it. It was before you joined, Mr. Adam! We’re really sorry we should have let you know.” Brian said, laughing nervously, his voice too an octave higher than it usually is. “Soooo sorry, Nigel, Mr. Adam’s new, he doesn’t know the school all that well, yet. Well, we’ll be going now, bye bye! Have a nice time!” 

And Adam was promptly manhandled away from the boy, putting as much distance as they could between them. The trio was never going to let that thug lay his hands on their precious TA if they had anything to do about it.

Nigel contemplated the odd little group for a moment, there had been something different about the pretty teacher with a complete lack for self-preservation. It was a tingle that danced along the nape of his neck, something that appeared only when he was in the presence of another powerful psychic. He blew out another plume of smoke, biting the butt of his cigarette between his teeth; no, that couldn’t be right, there was no way this baby-faced man with his chocolate curls and big blue eyes could be a psychic powerful enough to give him the tingles. 

“Yo, Nigel! What’re you doing, man, it’s your turn!” 

He dropped his cigarette on the ground and stomped it out before going back to join his group. Right, there was no way.

Nigel Varescu thrived on being rebellious. The world had nothing good to offer him, so he decided to just to the worst he could do before he ultimately gets shot and bleeds to death; which probably wasn’t the kind of thoughts a 19 year old should be having but he wasn’t a normal 19 year old. He had been born into the streets and he is going to die on the streets, preferably with guns blazing and few dozen others having gone down before him. There was no way his life was going to go any other way.

When he and Darko first came to United States, he hadn’t expected to be founding one of the most powerful gangs on this side of the city, but life works in strange ways and Venom was born. People liked to congregate behind power after all and Nigel was the hot new thing in town, with power in abundance, it was only natural that people were drawn to him. He supposed more people began to come over to his side when it went around that both he and Darko were psychic too, not the spoon bending piss ant kind but truly powerful ones that could possibly catch the attention of Raven Stag, the organization responsible for policing supernatural activity. It would the be talk of the town if someone managed to catch their attention, seeing as how they are rarely ever seen, some people even doubted the organization existed. But all in all, Nigel thrived on his criminal adrenaline highs, it was all he had, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“Fuck me, what does Chilton want this time?” Darko sighed, arriving to slump into the seat beside Nigel, who was already in a foul mood and really craving a cigarette. Nigel’s terrified homeroom teacher had told him that the principal had wanted to see him and Darko in his office as soon as they came in and he had wanted to find the closest person just to punch their teeth in.

He didn’t know why he was still in Highschool. The only reason they had enrolled was to appease their former foster home that had insisted on them having an education. Now, it has been around a year and a half since they’ve been living on their own and for some reason, they were still in Highschool. They had no hope of graduating anyway, so it was probably time to dropout, it would at least free them from Chilton’s annoying existence. 

“Oh, you know, the cunt just wants to use his principal card to torment us.” he said, running a hand down his face. “Fucking hell, I don’t want to deal with him so early in the morning.” 

Darko chuckled. “Who pissed in your coffee this fine morning, brother?”

“Gabi.” Nigel answered, through gritted teeth because he couldn’t lie to Darko anyway. “She’s dating someone, some greasy-faced runt named Charlie. I stalked her Instagram account.” 

“Oh my fucking god, Nigel. How long has it been? Two years? You held out for two years, man!” Darko groaned, rolling his eyes. “I thought, I told you to block her! Hand me your phone, dumbass, I’m blocking her for you.”

Nigel handed over his phone with a pout, not meeting Darko’s disapproving stare. Gabriella Ibanescu had been Nigel’s ex-girlfriend and the only person he had truly loved other than Darko but as life would have it, Gabi hadn’t felt the same. She had been nice about it, but Nigel hadn’t and their parting of ways had been less than amicable. It had taken months for Nigel to get over the break-up and the crew had had to navigate around him like they were walking on eggshells, he would have apologized for acting the way he did but he was too proud for that.

“Why do you follow so many dog accounts?” Darko asked and Nigel blushed bright, lunging for his phone while Darko tried to keep it out of his reach. 

“Fucker! I thought you were only going to fucking block Gabi! Give me my fucking phone, Darko!” he cried. “And it’s fucking dogs, who doesn’t like fucking dogs!?” 

Darko just grinned, a smug thing, as he handed the phone back to Nigel, announcing that he had blocked Gabi for him and for him to not unblock her under any circumstance or he will really break his nose. Nigel just rolled his eyes and gave him a shove, before pocketing his phone again and going back to cursing Chilton out for making them wait outside. 

“Did you have a think about what Alex and Taro told us last week?” Darko asked, crossing his arms and slouching back into his chair. 

Nigel stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and mirrored Darko’s slouch. “What’s there to think about, it’s fucking Verger, whatever he throws at us we can handle it.” 

“It’s precisely because it’s fucking Verger, that I say we need to be a little more careful.” Darko said, with a frown. “He’s smarter than you think, Nigel and I didn’t like the way Taro said he’s mobilizing, it must mean that he has some sort of a plan.”

Nigel gritted his teeth for the third time that day. Mason Verger happened to be the shit stain that led the Muskrats (fucking terrible name in Nigel’s opinion), the gang that controlled the other side of the city and Venom’s long-standing rival. The man had more money than he knew what to do with and unfortunately, was also a psychic; it was just this city’s luck that its two most dangerous gangs had to be led by psychics. 

Nigel and Mason had been at each other’s throats from the moment they met because they were both the type of person that the other really hated. Mason was the type that believed that he could have whatever he wanted in life, just because he had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, a type, Nigel hated with a passion and Nigel just happened to be part of the handful of people that didn’t want to kiss Mason’s boot prints. So, yes, to say they hated each other would be an understatement. 

“Fine, we’ll just get the boys to stay on their toes.” Nigel said. “I’m sure, whatever plan he has we can handle it.” 

“I hope you’re right, man.” Darko sighed. 

At that moment, Fredrick Chilton, their mousy principal that carried himself with the air of a pretentious sleazebag that had no right to be the principal of a Highschool finally decided to open the door to his office. Nigel resisted the urge to bare his teeth at the man before picking up his bag to follow the man into the office, he went in first, determined to get over with whatever Chilton had planned for them so he could just fuck off back to his class and sleep. What he hadn’t expected was to come face to face with the same big blue eyes, that had been stuck in the back of his mind ever since he had glimpsed them. 

“Nigel, Darko, could I assume you aware of why you’ve been called to my office?” Chilton asked, settling back into his pretentious chair that was behind his pretentious oak desk, surrounded by all his pretentious pretentiousness. 

“We really don’t.” Darko said, unamused and Nigel would have snickered if he hadn’t been momentarily distracted by those blue eyes. 

“Right.” Chilton said, rather bristled. “Well, I’m going to be frank, then. Your academics this year have once again been, for the lack of a better word, piss poor and I’m afraid, if the both of you don’t get your act together then I’m going to have to hold you back for another year.”

“That’s two words…” the baby-faced TA suddenly piped up, making all heads turn to him. “’Piss poor’ is two words, Mr. Chilton… and-… ah okay, I’m sorry, I’ll stop talking.” 

He coiled into himself at Chilton’s hard gaze, fingers tapping a rhythm against the books he had on his lap and Nigel felt a strong sense of protectiveness wash over him that he didn’t understand at all. But it was replaced completely with annoyance when Chilton opened his mouth again. 

“Anyway, I know that I won’t be able to trust you to up your game on your own, so I decided to assign the both of you a tutor.” Chilton said, before gesturing to Adam. “This is Adam Raki, one of our Teaching Assistants and the only person that actually agreed to be your tutor. Adam has agreed to tutor the both of you for two hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays after classes have ended. I expect the both of you to turn up to those sessions if you want to have any hope of graduating this year.”

“What the fuck.” Nigel ground out, suddenly and rather irrationally angry. He didn’t even want to be at this stupid place, Highschool had nothing to offer people like him and he wasn’t about to sacrifice more of his time doing something he didn’t want to. 

“Language, Nigel.” Chilton hissed. 

Nigel scoffed. “I thought it was objectively clear that I don’t give a shit about whether I graduate or not, Mr. Chilton. So no, I’m not about give up more of my time, just do something I don’t fucking want to.” 

“So, if that’s all, _Sir_. I’ll be taking my leave, now.” 

He shouldered his bag again and stalked out of the office, slamming the door behind him. Darko hesitated for a moment before giving the balking principal and wide-eyed TA a shrug and following after him. Nigel knew he was being unreasonable, they were just tutoring sessions, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do other than playing poker at HQ with the crew, getting shitfaced on Friday evenings or beating somebody up. But he had already been in a bad mood and he didn’t want his day made worse by listening to Chilton’s drivel. 

“Wait! Nigel! Darko!” a voice kept called after them and even though, every atom in his body told him not to turn around, he ended up doing so. 

“What the fuck do you want?” he demanded from Adam Raki who came to an abrupt stop in front of him like he hadn’t expected them to stop. The man was slightly out of breath like he had been running to catch up with them, his cheeks were flushed prettily pink and that just served to make Nigel more annoyed.

“I-I… um…” Adam started, eyes looking everywhere but Nigel’s own and hands hugging his books closer to his chest. Nigel just raised an eyebrow at him while Darko just looked from Adam to Nigel, before raising his own eyebrow at Nigel. “Why do you not care about graduating, Nigel?” the man finally asked. 

Nigel wondered if this man was simply clueless or just a plain idiot. “Are you fucking with me, Teach?” 

“N-No… that would be inappropriate. And my name is Adam, not Teach, Nigel, that’s a verb. You can call me Adam, if you wish.” Adam said, face betraying nothing other than complete openness. “I just want to know why you don’t care about graduating. Highschool is very important for your future, it will help you figure out what you want to be as an adult and maybe even pursue higher studies.” 

Nigel wanted to punch him, and he probably would have if it wasn’t for the way that Adam said it, a completely innocent statement like he really didn’t understand why Nigel would choose not to go down the usual passage of life.

“I know, you and Darko aren’t involved with a good crowd, but that’s doesn’t mean you can’t graduate highschool.” he continued with a small smile. “I’m very happy to help you. Mr. Chilton was nice enough to inform me ahead of time so I could have time to switch my routine around and make time for the both of you.” 

Nigel took a menacing step forward and Darko’s hand immediately shot out to grab his arm before he did something stupid. Adam recoiled, seeming to finally realize that Nigel was teetering on the edge of rage, his face twisting into a confused frown. He fiddled with his sweater sleeves, anxiously, like he was genuinely confused as to why Nigel was so angry. 

“O-Oh… you’re upset… w-was it som-…” he started but Nigel cut him off. 

“You asked me, why I don’t care about graduating, right?” Nigel asked, straightening to his full height and baring down on Adam, trying to remember Darko’s warning grip on his arm so he can ground himself. “Well, I have no fucking future, so why should I give a flying fuck about whether Highschool is good for my future or not? Mine and Darko’s lives are not something you’ll understand and it’s probably something you’ll never understand. I don’t care if you’re happy to help us, we don’t fucking need it, end of story.” 

“Look, Adam.” Darko said, a little more gently than Nigel. “We do appreciate you being happy to help us, but we really don’t need it. Nigel’s right, we don’t have a future and whether we graduate Highschool or not, isn’t going to change that. So, if that’s all, we’ll be leaving then.” 

Adam still looked a little distraught, fingers still fidgeting with his sweater sleeves but forced out a nod. “Well, um… alright, if you say so. But if you change your mind, I’ll be there in the library on Study Table 3, by the astronomy section.” 

“Right. Anyway, good day to you.” Darko said, before hissing to Nigel. “Fucking chill out and move, you fuck, before you do something dumb.”

Nigel could feel Adam’s gaze on his back as he walked away and forced down the tiny stab guilt that had threatened to rise to the surface when he saw the man’s face fall. The man was just pretty that was why his conscience was trying to make him feel bad about trying to pick a fight with him, not because he was actually being irrational. Yes, that’s right, Adam Raki was just unfairly pretty and that was very annoying. 

“You didn’t have to be such a dick, Nigel.” Darko said, as they settled into the back of the only class they had together.

“Shut the fuck up, Darko.” Nigel grumbled out, pillowing his head with his hands and going to sleep, making a point to just completely out the experience behind him. He had never seen Adam around before, he had never known of his existence prior to that day in front of the old gym building and it’s probably going to back to being that way. 

At least that was what he had hoped would happen… but as life would have it, Adam Raki had somehow begun to pop up anywhere and everywhere. The man arrived in school at the same time, ate lunch at the same time and place and went home at the same time, he even looked to be eating the exact same things for lunch every day. 

Nigel had stumbled upon Adam’s lunch spot by complete accident a few days after their second encounter, he had gone to the football grounds remembering that it was usually deserted during lunch and would be a good place to smoke. He had dived to hide in a corner when he saw Adam sitting on the top level of the bleachers, unpacking a neat little lunchbox with a small smile on his face, the sunlight catching on his chocolate curls and making it look a little like he had a halo around his head. The little smile on the man’s face grew when he saw the nerd trio making their way towards him and sit around him in a circle, listening with rapt attention as he animatedly explained something about constellations to them. Nigel had immediately left when his thoughts began to stray towards wondering what it would be like to join that little group and experience Adam’s enthusiasm firsthand. 

On Friday, two weeks later, Nigel hadn’t been able to contain his curiosity and had snuck into the library to see if Adam actually was seated at Study Table 3 near the astronomy section like he said he would be. Lo and behold there he was, nose buried in a thick encyclopedia that Nigel thought would make for an excellent weapon; he furrowed his brows silently watching through a peephole fashioned from two books behind a bookshelf, Adam couldn’t have actually sat there waiting for them to turn up all this time.

“I didn’t expect the great Nigel to actually reduce himself to stalking someone.” a voice whispered in his ear. 

“Fuck!” Nigel whisper-shouted, connecting a punch with the perpetrator’s nose who turned out to be Darko, holding his nose and muffling his screams with his hands so the librarian won’t come to kick them out. 

“Are you fucking insane!?” he hissed at Nigel, rubbing at his nose angrily which fortunately wasn’t broken. 

“You scared me, you fuck, my attention was elsewhere!” Nigel hissed back, rolling his eyes. “You’re lucky I didn’t put too much force into that punch.” 

“Right, I’m so lucky. Fucking asshole.” Darko grumbled out.

Nigel just stuck out his tongue like a child. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question.” Darko said, raising an eyebrow before he looked through the peephole at Adam who had lost himself in his encyclopedia. “He’s apparently sat here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the past two weeks, the librarian told me with a frown on her fake ass face.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Nigel murmured, trying to deflect the subject, embarrassed that he had been caught trying to check in on Adam. 

Darko rolled his eyes this time. “Don’t act like you didn’t come to see if he was sitting in the same place, he said he would be. I… er, did too… came here to check on him I mean.” 

“I didn’t expect the great Darko to be going soft on me.” Nigel smirked.

“Shut the fuck up, Nigel.” 

“Mr. Adam, you’re a still here?” someone called out, softly. Nigel and Darko immediately stopped trying to silently wring each other’s necks to peer through the peep hole. Brian Zeller had paused by Adam’s seat, a worried frown on his face.

“Yeah,” Adam said, smiling and checking his watch. “I still have a few minutes before I have to go home. Is something wrong, Brian?” 

“You’re waiting here for Nigel and Darko, aren’t you?” Brian asked, still frowning. “They’re never going to turn up, Mr. Adam, there’s no use waiting here for them. Beverly, Jimmy and I are worried for you.” 

“I think, they’re going to come around, Brian. There’s no need to worry about me, I don’t mind staying here.” Adam answered, he was silent for a moment. “Thank you, though… um, for worrying about me? I remember Beth telling me that when someone worries about someone, it’s because they care, so thank you.” 

Brian grinned. “We will always worry about you, Mr. Adam. You’re our favorite TA! But just promise me that you’ll be careful.” 

“I will, Brian.” Adam said with a nod. 

“Well, alright then. I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Adam!” Brian said and moved away with a wave, allowing Adam to return to his book.

Nigel scowled, not understanding why he was scowling and stuffed his hands in his pockets and stalked off, making a mental note to never comeback even if his need to know was making his chest burn. Maybe if he searched deep within himself, he could conclude that he was possibly just a little jealous of how close Adam and the nerds were. He believed he would never be able to have a relationship like that and he didn’t understand why Adam would even give someone like him the light of day, as Chilton had put it ever so eloquently, he had been the only one willing to tutor Nigel and Darko. It confused him and Nigel was never one to try at sating his confusions, neither was he one to search within himself for answers. He just preferred to bury his emotions deep within himself, punch first and talk later. 

Darko’s Kpop girl group ring tone, brought him out of his musings. “Hello? Taro? Why the fuck are you screaming? Taro? What the fuck? Taro!? Oi, Taro! What the fuck is happening!?”

“SPIRITS! AT HQ! HIGH-LEVEL! WE CAN’T HOLD ON!” Taro screamed, loud enough for Nigel to hear. Their blood ran cold, the crew had a smattering of psychics in their midst but most of them were only powerful enough to bend spoons or make tiny lick of flame on their fingertip. None of them were strong enough to handle high level spirits on their own. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK.” Nigel swore, dropping his bag on the corridor, marching up to the window on the third floor of the building and throwing it open. He climbed up onto the sill, uncaring whether anyone saw him or not and leapt off, Darko following in suit. They landed on the ground together, completely unscathed and started running as fast as they could in giant leaps that nearly broke the sound barrier. 

Adam perked up, sensing the spike in energy. He knitted his eyebrows, it wasn’t just spikes in psychic energy he felt, there were spirits, rather angry and strong ones somewhere close by. He contemplated for a moment, his routine would be put off if he were to go investigate but he couldn’t in good conscience go about his routine, knowing that people could have gotten hurt over something he could have prevented. So, he gripped his messenger bag tight and made his decision, letting his power flow a little before following the trail. 

Venom’s home was the streets, they were anywhere and everywhere in their territory, but the members closest to Nigel had a little spot they fondly called their HQ. At the edge of the city, there was an office building that had been abandoned mid construction and the parking lot beside it had somehow become a spot that Nigel, Darko and the crew liked to frequent. It was nothing fancy, of course, it was a fucking parking lot, there was never a day when it wasn’t assaulted by some form of a wind chill, but they had made memories sitting around warm drum fires, knocking back beers, playing games and sharing weird anecdotes. 

But now carnage was the only phrase he could have used to describe the place. His crew lay scattered around, limp and motionless, he didn’t even know if they were dead or alive. Little spots that he remembered fondly were either upturned or just completely razed to the ground, large craters were spread throughout the place, it was going to take them a very long time to return it to the state it had been in before. Even then, he doubted it would ever be the same again. 

Nigel landed in the middle of the lot, the force of it making the ground crackle under his boots and chunks of asphalt fly in all directions. The four evil spirits, who were laughing raucously while they took turns kicking Taro’s lifeless body around, startled out of their reverie when they noticed him. Their high-level status allowed them to compact a lot of power into a humanoid form, but they were no less ugly and vile than the rest of their rest of their kind. 

“I’m going to make sure you fuckers die a second time.” Nigel snarled. He closed the distance between himself and the first spirit in a nanosecond, set his stance, clenched his fist until his knuckles turned bone-white and launched. It connected fast and hard, smack dab in the middle of the first spirit’s fugly mug, a kaleidoscope of colors bursting forth as he was thrown back with the force of a cannonball from a cannon. 

Nigel didn’t give the others to recover from that hit, he swiftly shifted his weight and roundhouse kicked the second one, sending him flying into the first one. The other two managed to reel in their shock enough to send Nigel twin snarls and prepare to attack him, only to be completely engulfed in a column of flame. 

“Ah, ah. I don’t fucking think so, assholes, you’re mine to fuck up.” Darko sneered, landing beside Nigel. “Can’t let him have all the fun.”

Taro let out a weak wheeze, somehow still conscious. “B-Boss…! I-It was… h-him!” 

Nigel held out his hand to silence him, energy glowing a deep blue, Taro and the others started to glow too as they were gently lifted off the ground and settled into a secluded corner of the lot, out of harm’s way. He dug around his pocket for his cigarette pack and patted one out, Darko instinctively made a tiny lick of flame appear on his finger to give Nigel a light. He was a little glad he didn’t have his Beretta on him, he was going have quite a bit of fun beating these spirits’ faces in. 

“Now, let’s take care of these cunts so we can go fuck up Mason’s face.” he said, blowing out a plume of smoke and the lick of flame on Darko’s finger grew to engulf his entire arm.

The ground seemed to shake with tremors akin to a low magnitude earthquake. Frightened people gathered around, murmuring to themselves and others trying to make sense of what was happening but the word on everyone’s lips was ‘supernatural’. Adam hastened his steps, holding tightly onto the two bags he had found on the corridor, desperately hoping that he would be able to get there on time. 

Nigel had to hand it to these high-level fuckers, they were quite stubborn. He’s already hit the spirits he’s fighting with nearly all of what he’s had, and they still kept coming back for more; Darko too seemed to be running out of options. He spit out a glob of blood, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, they just needed to hit them for a bit longer and they would be able to exorcise them off the face of the earth.

He dodged an energy beam Fucker No.1 sent out and grabbed Fucker No.2, who tried to take advantage of his focus on his partner, by the face before flinging him at Fucker No.1. They hit each other, the colors flying about but once again not enough to completely exorcise them and Nigel gritted his teeth; why the fuck won’t they just die a second time like they’re supposed to!? 

“Nigel! There’s something fucking wrong!” Darko shouted from somewhere to right. 

“You think I didn’t notice that!?” Nigel shouted back. He racked his brain trying to figure out what was going wrong. Spirits were usually a cake walk for them, sure sometimes high-levels would give them a bit of trouble but they would still be able to exorcise them successfully. But there was something here that was making it harder for them to exorcise; one of Mason Verger’s specialties was keeping spirits as pets, he couldn’t possibly have found a way to keep them around longer, could he? 

However, he was torn out of his theorizing when he heard a voice, he didn’t not expect or want to hear in this situation at all. 

“Nigel! Darko!” cried Adam’s voice, making Nigel whirl around like he had been struck by lightning. Sure enough, there he was in all his grandpa sweaters and messenger bag glory, holding Nigel and Darko’s bags like they were the most precious things in the world. 

“ADAM!?” Nigel shouted, voice more an incredulous shriek than a shout. 

“WHAT!?” Darko demanded, his tone a near replica of Nigel’s. 

“Dear god, boys! It’s dangerous, get out of there!” Adam cried out, face contorted with worry and Nigel thought for a fact that the man was insane. 

“What the fuck are you on, you idiot!? It’s dangerous for YOU, get the fuck out!” Nigel shouted, something raw and desperate rising his throat. His crew was already out of commission and he was not about to let someone else get hurt under his watch, certainly not Adam. 

“Oh, I’ll be fi- NIGEL, WATCH OUT!” 

Nigel managed to turn just in time to see Fucker No.2’s fist flying at his face and dodge, he once again connected his fist with his mug and sent him flying. He turned his attention back to Adam, who still hadn’t left and had instead moved to where Taro and the others were. He deposited the bags near Taro, telling him something while the half dead man just stared at him completely bewildered. 

“Adam, what the fuck are you still doing here!?” Nigel demanded, distress bleeding into his voice, the situation was getting more and more dangerous, the energy was somehow building up and he could feel something big coming, Adam could not stay here! But he couldn’t stay in one place long enough to hear his answer because Fucker No.1 decided this was the most opportune moment to attack and it was because Nigel ended up being thrown off his feet and into one of the fences on the other side of the lot. 

He groaned, getting back into his feet and realized with abject horror that the four spirits had regrouped, circling each other and morphing into something much more powerful than before. Darko had fallen back too, flames slowly being smothered, watching in terror as this new spirit towered over them, dark, evil and vicious. The spiritual pressure was immense, Nigel felt it like a stone over his chest; the thing opened its multiple red, bulging eyes, scanning for its first target. It grinned wide with its yellowed teeth when it found it and Nigel’s blood turned to ice. 

“Ah.” was all Adam was able to get out before the thing bared down, maw open wide enough to swallow a whale and gobbled the man up whole. 

“ADAM!!” both he and Darko screamed in unison. 

Somehow, time seemed to slow as something none of them will never be able to fathom opened its eyes. A brilliant beam of white light burst out from the thing’s stomach, then a second, then a third, fourth, fifth, until multiple beams shot out like luminous light sabers piercing the spirit’s stomach. The thing began to bloat like a balloon and exploded into rainbow of colors that disintegrated every single spiritual atom remaining. Nigel and Darko could only stare slack jawed and shell shocked.

Adam’s shoes touched the ground gently and he heaved a sigh, hugging himself, fingers going tap-tap against his arm. He never liked giving his power leeway to run loose, but the spirit that had tried to devour him up had been strong and he had to loosen the chains a little bit. Fortunately, that had been enough to exorcise it and make sure it never comes back again; but he had sensed something else in that spirit, like another higher power that was puppeteering it. Maybe, he should mention it to Nigel and Darko a little later… 

“You’re an Esper?” asked Darko, jogging up to him, eyes wider than saucers. “You?! An Esper?!”

“Um… yes? I believe, I am? I mean, I did just exorcise a spirit.” Adam said, he can tell that Darko seemed surprised but why would he be surprised? Adam just proved to him that he has ESP after all. “Are you alright, Darko? You’re bleeding a little and you’re bruised. Those are going to hurt if you don’t ice them and your friends need medical attention too, but I think someone called the paramedics, so they’ll hopefully be here soon.”

Adam fussed over Darko, who just stood there still dumbfounded, holding his shoulders, and trying to see the cuts and bruises on his face better. Nigel’s temper flared and before he knew what he was doing, he had marched up to and grabbed him by the front of his sweater, fabric bunching up and crumpling under his fist. 

“Are you blooming mad!?” he demanded, ignoring Darko’s shouts to let Adam go. “Did you know how fucking dangerous that was!? You could have fucking died! Died! Dead! Do you fucking understand that!?” 

“I-I… Nigel, that hurts…” Adam started, wincing at how the collar was pulling against the back of his neck but Nigel didn’t relent, his eyes shining with something that he suddenly realized were unshed tears. “O-Oh… you were worried, weren’t you?”

That caught Nigel off guard, he relaxed his grip, enough for Adam pry his fingers off his sweater and smooth out the wrinkles. He still wasn’t the best at being able to read situations or imagine how neurotypicals were able to think, but he was trying his best, he had to make Harlan, Beth and his dad proud. Nigel had been worried, desperately so and that must be why he was lashing out in anger and reminding Adam about dangers that he had known. He remembered Beth saying touches can be something comforting for people who are worried or upset, so he reached out, gingerly and rested his palm on Nigel’s cheek. 

“Thank you for worrying about me, Nigel.” Adam reassured, making sure to smile. “But I was fine, I’m an Esper too so I can take care of myself, so you don’t need to worry about me anymore.”

Nigel stared at him for a moment, a moment that somehow managed to make him look like his age and not years older than he was supposed to be, a soft moment of silence filled only by the distant sounds of sirens growing closer and closer. But he was quick to remove Adam’s hand from his face and turn away, mumbling something about not being worried. For a moment Adam thought that maybe he had made a mistake but just as he was about to apologize, he realized that the tips of Nigel’s ears had turned pink, similar to how Brian’s ears turned pink when he was embarrassed, so Adam giggled to himself, he had gotten through to Nigel after all.

He returned the boys’ bags to them, chiding them to be more careful with their books just as the police and the paramedics arrived and the parking lot filled with an entire crowd of people. Nigel and Darko’s friends were soon safely loaded onto stretchers and into the awaiting ambulances. The officers were nice enough to let Adam, Nigel and Darko ride with Taro to the hospital, when the two boys insisted; the hospital was the last place Adam wanted to be but Nigel and Darko were his students and it was his responsibility to take care of them, so he swallowed his anxiety and steeled himself. 

The scent of antiseptic and other chemicals assaulted his nose, they were in the emergency ward, so the chatter of people and the muted beeps of machines were much worse than anywhere else in the hospital. Adam let out a shaky sigh, fingers starting to tap their rhythm automatically so he could ground himself, fortunately they weren’t allowed inside, where all the doctors and nurses worked, so that was a slight relief.

Nigel and Darko’s injuries had been minimal so the paramedics had given them first aid on the way to the hospital. They now sat in the chairs beside Adam, tensed slouches near mirror images of each other and he couldn’t wonder whether they school records had made a mistake about them not being related. 

“Are the both of you brothers?” Adam asked, unable to contain his curiosity. 

It was Darko who answered. “No, we’re not but we’ve grown up with each other, so we might as well be.” 

Adam nodded, his father had once called Harlan his ‘brother in arms’, it was an army term for a friend or associate who has become close enough to become a brother, maybe it was something similar for Nigel and Darko.

“How long have you been a psychic?” this time it was Nigel who spoke up. 

“Oh… all my life, I think? I remember my dad telling me, that I would make pillows float when I was upset as a baby.” Adam answered. 

“Ohh…!” Darko said, letting out an impressed whistle. “That explains the power, you’re a natural.” 

“Why do you hide it?” Nigel asked, fixing Adam with that intense amber gaze of his. “You were powerful enough to exorcise a high-level spirit with little effort and yet no one knows you’re able to do so. Why?” 

Adam squirmed, tilting his gaze down to a spot on the white tiled floor. “I don’t exactly hide it… I just don’t like using my powers much. I sometimes help Beverly, Jimmy and Brian if they come by a spirit that they can’t handle, though. Their part-time exorcism business is doing rather well, I’m quite proud of them.” 

The doctor came out of the ward, just before Adam could tell Nigel and Darko about the club’s Paranormal Investigation business. He politely introduced himself to Adam as Dr. Fuller, when Adam told him that he was a TA at their school and informed him, fondly rolling his eyes, that he was very familiar with Nigel and Darko, who often end up in the hospital with injuries from the numerous fights they get into. 

“But I come bearing good news.” the doctor said. “All your friends are now stable and they’re on their way to recovery, I suspect they’ll probably be discharged by next week. Spirit damage has always been unpredictable, and it was very fortunate that you three arrived on time, they weren’t too badly hurt.”

“Now, boys, I do want you to understand that because this was a case with Spirits, I’m going to have to send in a report to Raven Stag. But since no one was too badly hurt, I doubt they will come knocking and won’t figure out that the both of you have a history of being rogue psychics. So, consider yourselves lucky there as well.”

Both Nigel and Darko made gruff noises in affirmation and Dr. Fuller gave them a satisfied smile before telling them that they were allowed to go visit the crew now. That was the last thing Adam wanted to do, but he couldn’t just leave the boys, so he swallowed his anxiety and steeled himself, fingers starting their tapping once again as he trailed behind, while the boys checked on each one of their friends. Fortunately, they didn’t spend a long time inside, deciding to let them rest, making a promise to come visit them the next day and Adam breathed a discrete sigh of relief when they exited the hospital.

The sun hung low on the horizon, the day was coming to an end and the three of them stood awkwardly outside the building, not yet ready to part ways. Nigel fidgeted, kicking a loose pebble with a pout on his lips until Darko rolled his eyes and elbowed him in the stomach. 

Nigel scowled at his friend and turned to Adam, fidgeting again. “Er… thank you for staying with us, Adam. We realized you didn’t really like hospitals, but you still stayed with us, so er… thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome.” Adam said and stared down at his sweater sleeves. “I have this thing called Asperger Syndrome, it’s part of the autism spectrum, I think a little differently from the both of you and I don’t really enjoy places with a lot of people and weird smells, that includes hospitals. I don’t like my schedule getting messed up either, I’m supposed to be at home right now making dinner…”

He gave them a smile. “But you’re my students and it’s my responsibility as a teacher to take care of you, so I wouldn’t mind doing it again for you even if I have to change my routines or go to places I don’t like.” 

It made his heart fill with a little bit of pride for himself because he really meant that.

“But why?” Nigel asked, hands stuffed in his jacket pockets, voice smaller than he had meant it to be. “The rumors you would’ve heard about us are true, we do run a gang and we are dangerous, you maybe an Esper but so are we and we could easily hurt you.”

“But you wouldn’t do that.” Adam said, with such a conviction that it made the boys turn to him with wide eyes. “You did a good thing today, saving your friends from those spirits, no one truly bad and dangerous would do that for someone else even if they are part of their gang. So, you are both good people, I believe you are and so should you.”

Amidst a hospital parking lot, lit by the gently setting sun and streetlights being turned on one by one as the sky darkened, Adam looked like something ethereal. And slowly but surely, Nigel felt something in his heart shift.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun Facts: Darko's ring tone is Dance the Night Away by Twice and Dr. Fuller is probably (definitely) Bryan Fuller. I hope I was able to do Adam justice, he's a rather complex character to write and I want to make sure to be as accurate as possible, so please let me know on how I can improve! Your kudos and comments, make my sad days go away! <3  
> And stay tuned for the next chapter!
> 
> ~Chari


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